And The Leaves Will Burn
by Ultimate Warrior
Summary: After witnessing Sasuke sacrifice himself in battle against Zabuza and his fake hunter-nin Naruto awakens a power no one knew he had.


Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea.

Summary: This is an abanadonned story idea of mine. I concocted it after Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto was killed off in the Bleach Manga. I thought it would be interesting to have him be reincarnated as Naruto but retain his individuality and somehow have Naruto gain ownership of Ryujin Jakka, awakening it during the battle against Haku. Unfortunately I've had this on the go for months now and not made any progress beyond what's written here - largely, I think, because all I had was the basic idea and no clue about the plot beyond that - So I'm submitting it as an idea for someone else to take up if they want.

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\/\/\/\/**And The Leaves Will Burn**\/\/\/\/\

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"uhh.." Naruto groaned. The senbon littering his back sent shockwaves of pain throughout his body. He opened a misty eye to turn his gaze up where his team mate was still battling the enemy shinobi.

His foe was knelt on the ground, and it appeared to Naruto as if he'd been defeated, and in front of the blonde haired shinobi stood Sasuke, seeming triumphant.

"Geez…" Sasuke grumbled. "All you ever do is get in the way..."

Joy overcame Naruto's heart then and he pushed himself up to his knees. "Sasuke! You…" His words died on his lips. Sasuke's whole body was impaled with senbon, his legs, his back, his neck. He was coughing up blood. Naruto could only recoil in shock.

Sasuke gaze back at his downed comrade "What's…with that face…dobe…" His words were strained.

"Why?" Naruto sputtered, one thought running through his head 'Sasuke saved me…why did he do it?'

The same thought was running through Sasuke's head as he remembered everything experience he'd ever had with the blonde, and he couldn't help but laugh, or, rather, to stifle a laugh – he had a reputation after all. At length he said "I hated you…"

"But…but…why? why me?" Naruto continued, still dumbstruck by the gesture. "I never asked for your help!"

"I don't know…"Sasuke felt his consciousness slipping away. "My body moved on its own…dobe." As Sasuke collapsed at last Naruto sprang up to catch his comrade before he hit the ground. Sasuke now lay, cradled in Naruto's arms, on a floor surrounded by an Ice-Mirror dome. "That man…" He struggled to speak. "…my brother…I told myself I wouldn't die until I killed him…" Sasuke gazed into Naruto's eyes as firmly as he could, as if trying to get an important message across. "Don't die also…"

With that Sasuke closed his eyes and stopped breathing. Tears sprang to Naruto's eyes as he watched his team mate die in his arm.

"He landed a blow on me and without flinching…died to protect you." The enemy shinobi pulled himself up from the ground and bowed his head as he knelt. "To protect a precious person knowing it was a trap, he was able to still jump in. He is a shinobi that deserves respect." The masked shinobi stood and glanced at Naruto. "Is this your first death of a friend? This is the way of shinobi."

"Shut up…" Naruto said through grounded teeth. 'I hated you too…' he thought to Sasuke. His anger burnt within him. Anger at himself for being so useless, anger at Sasuke for killing himself to protect him, but most of all anger at the masked shinobi for killing his friend. Bitterly, hatefully, he thought 'I won't forgive you!' and allowed his anger to consume him.

Deep from the pit of his stomach rose the red, burning fury accompanied by power, unimaginable power of a corrupt nature. Naruto felt this, yet permitted it to flow through him. His only thought was of revenge. Around him the earth was torn up as the red charka of the demon he possessed swirled and raged. The wounds he had sustained the in fight thus far were healed in the blink of an eye. His body seemed to steam as the power flowed through him.

'What is this boy?!' thought the masked shinobi as he felt the evil intent and the corrupt nature of the charka that his enemy produced. He observed his enemy closely, bracing himself for the attack that was soon to come, when he caught the blonde's eye and froze before the fury in its gaze. He watched with increasing trepidation as his enemy crouched on the ground and prepared himself for a charge.

Then everything paused.

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"What?!" Naruto called as he suddenly found himself in a large sewer system. "Where am I?!"

"You meddling bastard!" A deep, rumbling voice shouted, and brought Naruto's attention to a large cage containing the Kyuubi. The beast was pinned to the floor of its cage by golden bonds, snarling and growling insults.

"What the hell!" Naruto shouted, the anger still flowing through his veins. "Why did you bring me here when that bastard who killed Sasuke is still out there?!"

"You think I did this?!" The fox growled derisively. "Trust me flesh-bag. I would have loved nothing more than to watch you loose control and tear everything apart. It would have caused me no end of entertainment. No, it was not I that summoned you here. It was him. "The fox gestured its head to Naruto's right.

Naruto turned round still with the adrenaline of his anger and the fight coursing through him, fully prepared to beat the hell out whoever he found behind him, but this intention faltered upon seeing the figure behind him.

Towering above the young blonde was an old man, wrinkled and covered in scars, the most prominent of which were two across his bald head which formed a cross. He wore black clothes under a white hoari. His long, white beard was held together with cords of some kind that gave it a somewhat platted look and he stood almost to attention, with his hands in front of him at waist height and a knobbed wooden stick held in both hands, like a walking stick.

It was not the man's appearance that made Naruto pause, but the man's gaze. It was angry, like his own, but rather than the raw emotion that filled the blonde shinobi the man's anger was tempered with disappointment.

"H-hey!" Naruto spluttered out at last. "What's the big idea?! I was in the middle of something! That guy's gotta pay for what he did! I'll never forgive him! I'm gonna tear him apart and, Ow!"

"Fool" the man said as he brought back his stick from where it struck the boy's head and returned it to its previous place.

"Oi! What was that for?!" Naruto demanded as he rubbed his head.

The old man merely regarded the boy with an unchanging gaze. "What do you think you will accomplish using the demon's power?"

"I'll get that guy back. Make him pay for killing Sasuke!" Naruto answered fervently.

"Revenge." The old man said and closed his eyes. "And what then? What will you do once your vengeance is sated and the demon's power flows unrestrained through you?"

"I…I'll…well…I mean…" Naruto faltered to answer as nothing came to mind. Eventually he huffed. "What does it matter anyway?! So long as that guy pays for what he did!"

"You think the demon will relent once you've avenged your friend?" The old man said, opening an eye to gaze down at the blonde boy. "He will consume you. His power will overwhelm you and corrupt you until you fall and remove his seal, releasing him into the world to cause untold destruction that none can prevent." The man slammed his staff on the floor, and the sound reverberated. He leant forward and shouted" And you would succumb to his manipulations without resistance?! Are you so weak?!"

"Well what the hell do you want me to do?! Just let that guy off and let Sasuke's death be for nothing!" Naruto shout back with a raised fist.

"Use the power within you. Not the demons" Said the old man in stern tones.

"Don't you think I want to?! If it was that easy I'd have done it before he killed Sasuke!" Naruto countered. "I…I'm not strong enough…"

"You are weak." The old man conceded with a tilt of the head. "But not as weak as you believe. I shall help you grasp your true strength, even if only a small portion of it."

"…how?"

The old man raised his staff in his left hand and held it up to Naruto's gaze. "This is my sword." He said, and the wood of the staff fell away to reveal a plain black katana. "It carries the weight of millions of souls upon its blade. Countless warriors have fallen before its onslaught." He twisted the blade and took the handle in his right hand while grasping the sheath in his right and drew it. "Survive."

"Wha…wait! What?!" Naruto stuttered and scrambled to his feet.

As the sword-blade was drawn from its sheath it became enveloped in flame, and in a rush of air the sewer system that filled this part of the blonde shinobi's mind was filled with an intense flaming inferno.

The old man bowed his head and closed his eyes as the flames spread and encircled the two of them. Then his eyes shot open as he raised the flaming blade into the air then brought it down in one swift stroke in the direction of the shinobi.

Naruto leapt aside and barely dodged pillar of flames that shot past the position he had been occupying. Unfortunately for him this resulted in him leaping straight into the encircling wall of fire. He sprang back with a yelp and rolled on the floor attempting to pat out the flames.

"You cannot dodge." The old man spoke and raised his blade again. "You cannot run." With a sweep to the right the flames danced in an arch. "You cannot hide." The sword curved back to the left in a figure of eight and the flames burnt along the line. "You must move forward. Or else you'll burn."

"You're crazy!" Naruto shouted, springing to his feet and pointing an accusatory finger towards the man.

The old man did not answer, he merely thrust his blade forward and the flaming figure of eight surged forward.

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/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/**End**\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

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Anyway, that's all I've got on this, so if anyone's interested feel free to take up the idea and do whatever you want with it.


End file.
